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Ales Kotalik's knee injury will keep him out of the first two games of the regular season – perhaps longer. The Sabres don't play until Oct. 11 after this weekend, so he has a chance to be back by then. 

Chicago cut Skille, Bolland and Kontiola. I said that Pilar would be cut today and that is the case. One big surprise was the fact that the 'Hawks cut Cam Barker.  

The Red Wings have sent Igor Grigorenko to Grand Rapids, offered Aaron Downey a two-way contract, kept Matt Ellis, and waived Mark Hartigan as their final roster moves in preparation for Wednesday’s season opener against Anaheim.

The Sabres cut Marek Zagrapan – no huge surprise there, but he stuck around for a long time. He will dominate the AHL this year, trust me. 

Sam Gagner has signed a contract with the Oilers and will start the season in Edmonton. Expect at least nine games and upgrade his outlook on sticking for the entire year – he constantly surprises and overachieves.

Toronto has cut Simon Gamache, Tony Salmelainen, Jiri Tlusty and Jeremy Williams, among others.

The Pens have signed Adam Hall to a contract, but it is two-way. The team also cut were Kris Letang, Ryan Stone, Jeff Taffe and Jonathan Filewich…so Hall will remain with the big club for now.
 

Brian Lee, Ilja Zubov, and Alexander Nikulin have been cut by the Sens. Same with Lawrence Nycholat. Nick Foligno made the team, as expected. 

One of my Montreal readers ('Pete' in the forum) has reported that, according to RDS.ca, Halak, O'Byrne and LaPierre have been cut – Carey Price has made the team, as well as Michal Grabovski. With Huet's injury history, the starting job could be Price's by January. Pick him up if you can, because he will be impossible to get later.

They gave him a look, but it seems as though Karel Pilar will be cut by the Blackhawks as they give the job to Magnus Johansson. 

It was a good run, but in the end the numbers game could not be overcome. TJ Hensick was cut by the Avs yesterday. That would indicate that Hejduk will be back shortly from his groin injury.

The Blue Jackets sent Jakub Voracek back to junior and Derick Brassard to the AHL. Both had terrific camps and Brassard is a bit of a surprise. He may not be down for very long, but it would depend on how well the likes of Kris Beech plays.

Detroit sent Johan Ryno and Jimmy Howard to Grand Rapids of the AHL.

The Sharks cut (and released) Thomas Greiss. You win some you lose some – I said Ellis would beat out Rinne in Nashville (correct) and Greiss would beat out Patzold in San Jose (nope). Patzold will be the Sharks backup. I will update the supplemental sheet later Monday morning.

Brent Burns scored three goals last night for the Wild and it would seem that he will be their power-play quarterback. The sometime forward makes an excellent pickup in roto leagues for his multi-positional eligibility. His point totals will go up dramatically this season.

Patrick Eaves is quietly putting together a solid offensive preseason for Ottawa.

Here we go again – Brandon Bochenski was a healthy scratch and temporarily out of the mix as the second line winger in Boston. He put on 20 pounds over the summer in an effort to bulk up and play in traffic. He also signed a one-way contract, so you would think he would be successful. How will he do this year? Flip a coin. 

Ales Kotalik has a slight MCL strain in the knee he injured Thursday in practice and is questionable for Friday’s opener against the New York Islanders.

The Devils cut him late last week, but they recalled Niklas Bergfors from Lowell yesterday. Keep an eye on him as he could see time on a top line to start the season.

John Grahame has missed practice the last several days with a leg injury. There is a chance he will miss the start of the season for Carolina. 

If you haven't selected a site to run your fantasy hockey pool yet, take a look at this:

With nine points in five games, Chris Conner is making a huge statement to the Stars. However, the team has 14 forwards under one-way contracts, so his chances for making the team does not look good.

Junior Lessard was placed on waivers by the Stars for the purpose of assigning him to Iowa.

One spot left in Detroit, with Grigorenko, Hartigan, Downey and Ellis battling for it. Ellis has been the most impressive of the four.

Barring a stubborn stance from his agent in contract negotiations, Sam Gagner will start the season in Edmonton. Cogliano and Nilsson had excellent chemistry on a line together on Saturday.

The injury to Mathieu Roy (concussion) may open up a spot for Tom Gilbert in the Edmonton lineup.

The Habs will decide on their backup today.

Alexander Radulov has been playing with Bonk and Gelinas. He may come out of the gates slowly this season, but do not panic – he has too much talent to be shut down for long.

Today the Isles will make a decision on Bryan Berard.

Alexander Semin (ankle) should be healthy enough for the opening game on Friday.

David Perron, Martin Kariya, Mike Glumac and Mike Johnson are battling for the final forward spot in St. Louis. 

Bought the Pool Guide? Here is a one-page supplemental sheet to give you the update.

Cuts of note from Sunday night/Monday morning:

Hensick, Cumiskey, Colorado

Voracek, Brassard, Brookbank, McKenzie, Lindstrom, Columbus

Peterson, Khomitski, Dallas

Ryno, Howard, Detroit 

Gamache, Salmelainen, Ondrus, Williams, Tlusty, Harrison, Clemmensen, Toronto

Lee, Nikulin, Nycholat, Zubov, Hamel, Ottawa

Zagrapan, Mancari, Funk, Buffalo

Filewich, Stone, Letang, Taffe, Pittsburgh 

LaPierre, Halak, O'Byrne, Montreal 

Grigorenko, Hartigan, Detroit 

Wanvig, Darche, Tampa Bay 

Kontiola, Pilar, Barker, Skille, Bolland, Chicago 

Those of you new to DobberHockey, please note that I update the ramblings several times in a day. To read yesterday's ramblings, click "Next" below.